How it works · 07
How Claimpanel works
Pricing, money flow, documents, emails and the audit trail explained in plain language.
This chapter explains the ideas behind the screens, in plain language, so the panel's behaviour makes sense. No technical knowledge is needed. (For the technology, see How it is built.)
The big picture
How pricing works
The schedule of rates
Estimates → Rates is the price library. Each item has a code (like 5B.001), a description, a unit (m², hour, item…) and two rates: the client rate the insurer pays and the contractor rate we pay. The library was loaded from the schedule-of-rates documents supplied to us. You can add and edit items if you have the right.
Building the schedule of works
- Measure the rooms
Each room has dimensions, so quantities (floor area, wall area) can be worked out.
- Add lines from the rates
A line says what, where (room), how much and which rates. Contractor rates are filled from the library; if an item has no contractor rate, a default contractor share % fills it.
- Different views of one schedule
The client copy (what we send the insurer) shows client rates only. The contractor's copy shows contractor rates only. We see both, side by side, if our role allows.
Work not in the library
Send an RFQ to one or more contractors. Their returned prices sit beside each other for comparison. You award one contractor per scope; if it is not the lowest you must say why. The insurer rate for that work is the contractor's price plus the markup.
A contractor quotes £100.00 per unit for an off-schedule item. With a 30% markup the insurer rate is £130.00. The line shows £130.00 to the insurer; the contractor's PO shows £100.00. Our revenue on that line is £30.00 per unit.
How the money flows
From the insurer
- Schedule issued → insurer approves an amount (authorised value).
- Sales invoices (interim, then final) up to that value, less the policy excess collected from the customer.
- Insurer pays → receipt recorded against the invoice.
- Credit notes if an invoice must be reduced.
To contractors and suppliers
- Purchase order per phase, at contractor rates.
- Contractor invoices against the order.
- Payment (full or part) to verified bank details.
- Credit notes from the contractor; additional costs for anything bought without a PO.
The Financial reports step brings both sides together:
| Figure | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Authorised | What the insurer has approved us to charge. |
| Invoiced / Received / Outstanding | What we have billed, what has been paid, and the difference. |
| Revenue (net) | Invoiced, net of VAT and credit notes. |
| Contractor cost + Other costs | What we owe or have paid to others. |
| Gross margin | Revenue − contractor cost − other costs. |
Cost and margin figures show only to users who hold both the finance-margin and contractor-pricing permissions.
Reserves, spend and cash payments
Separate from our own invoicing, the claim tracks what the insurer has put aside and spent:
| Figure | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Reserve (by indemnity category) | Money set aside under each of ten categories. Every change is kept; the table shows initial, previous, current and movement. |
| Grand total | Sub-total of the categories, plus professional fees, plus VAT on the sub-total at the insurer's default rate. |
| Claim spend | Our sales invoices (less credit notes) plus cash payments the insurer made to the policyholder or a third party. |
| Reserve balance | Grand total minus claim spend. Red when spend exceeds the reserve. |
Cash payments are recorded, not made, by the panel. Spend and the balance show only to users who can view finance.
Documents the panel makes for you
| Document (PDF) | Made at | Goes to | Shows prices? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Survey report | Step 5 | Insurer | No |
| Schedule of works (client copy) | Step 7, on issue | Insurer | Client rates only |
| Scope of works (contractor copy) | Step 7 | Contractor | Contractor rates only |
| Request for quotation (RFQ) | Step 7 | Contractor | No: blank rate column |
| Purchase order | Step 12 | Contractor | Contractor rates |
| Service order (survey service) | Step 12 | Supplier | Agreed fee |
| Sales invoice | Step 13 | Insurer | Client rates |
| Sales credit note | Step 13 | Insurer | Client amounts |
All are filed on the claim automatically, with the right access level, and every one can be opened again from the Documents tab.
Reference numbers
| Prefix | Example | Used for |
|---|---|---|
CLM | CLM-2026-00001 | Claims (our reference) |
EST | EST-2026-00001 | Estimates |
INV | INV-2026-00001 | Sales invoices |
CN | CN-2026-00001 | Sales credit notes (own sequence) |
PO | 0000000001-0 | Purchase orders; the -n is the revision |
Numbers are issued by the panel and never reused.
Emails the panel sends
Staff can edit every template in Settings → Email templates, with merge fields such as {{ claim_number }} and a live preview.
| To | When | Attachment | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Survey booked / moved / cancelled | Surveyor | Booking changes | Calendar invite (.ics) that creates, updates or removes the diary entry |
| Survey report to insurer | Insurer | You press send on step 5 | Report PDF |
| Schedule of works to insurer | Insurer | You issue the schedule | Client PDF, with the total |
| Request for quotation | Contractor | You press Send request for quotation | Unpriced scope PDF |
| Purchase order and instruction | Contractor / supplier | You raise a PO | PO PDF |
| Invitation, password reset, verification | Staff | User management | None |
RFQs, orders and reports go out only when a person presses the send button, never automatically when something is saved. If sending fails, the item is kept as failed and a Send again button appears; the issue date is not set until the send succeeds.
Text messages (SMS) can also be connected through the VoodooSMS provider; see Settings → SMS delivery.
The audit trail
- Every claim has an Activity timeline that records who did what and when, in order.
- The system keeps a wider audit log of changes to records, security events and exports. It is used for investigation and accountability and is not editable.
- Sensitive values (full bank numbers, passwords, keys) are never written to any log.
Where your files live
Claim files are not kept on the web server. They are stored on private storage nodes (separate machines) reached over an encrypted link. The CTO connects a node once and routes six areas to it: claim documents, photographs and evidence, inspection reports, generated documents, data exports and backups. A daily job at 02:30 copies claim files to the node chosen for backups.
A second copy on the same machine is not a backup. Keep a separate off-site copy of both the database and the files, and test restoring them.
Reports and exports
- Work orders, Finance and Reports are queues over all claims, with search and drill-down.
- Export CSV on Finance and Reports downloads every claim in the queue (narrowed by your search): claim, insurer, policyholder, handler, status, instruction, received date, authorised, invoiced, received, outstanding and ledger-closed.
- Revenue, contractor cost, other costs and margin are four extra columns present only for a user with both margin and contractor-pricing permissions. For anyone else the columns are absent, not blank.
- Each export is rate-limited and recorded in the audit log.